2005 Yering Station MVR

I'm a bit late on this entry as well. Came home from work and napped for a few hours. My immune system seems hellbent on catching a cold! Boo!

It's not going to stop me from posting about this fantastic wine, though!!

Front of the bottle:


Back of the bottle:


2005 Yering Station MVR!

To say that I was looking forward to this wine is a vast understatement. The second I put it in my cart at Grocery Outlet (a bargain at $5.99! Elsewhere it's $18.99) I knew I'd want to drink and drink and drink it. This wine is comprised of 54% Marsanne, 36% Viognier, and 10% Roussanne. There's a hint of pear on the nose. Drinking the wine, it's crisp and clean. This is definitely not a sweet white wine. While I was drinking the wine I kept imagining a backyard barbecue with chicken and pasta salads and sun. It's definitely a summer wine so if you have the chance to buy it during GO's wine sale from March 30th through April 3rd you should do it! Summer is not so far away.

But, back to the wine. I definitely get a lot of green apple with this wine. Mr Mary Cooks had only one glass (he's not a fan of whites) but I easily drank the rest of the bottle. I am an equal opportunity wine drinker. If you're only a marginal fan of white wines you may not like this. The Mr said it smelled like Play-Doh. While I could see how he could smell that I didn't think it was a bad thing.

By the way, we drank this with a whole chicken cooked in the slow cooker.



I was intending on blogging the recipe but, quite frankly, the chicken turned out dry (!!) and not all that great. I was disappointed but it reinforces my desire to have a programmable slow cooker vs. my old-school "off-low-high" model.

I have more wines to blog about even though the "official" period has ended. I have three bottles left and I'm intending on sharing them all with you!

Dragon Xanadu Cabernet-Merlot and Bacon Wrapped Tenderloins

Yes, it's bacon wrapped tenderloin time again. (We had six of them...) They were just as delicious the second day in a week.

Obligatory food photo:



Now, on to the wine! To go with this dinner we chose a 2005 Dragon Xanadu Cabernet-Merlot purchased from Grocery Outlet. It was $5.99 (elsewhere $8.99).

Front of the bottle:


Back of the bottle:


This is a wine that needs its breathing room. Once you let it open up it is very pleasant, almost jammy. We were getting a spicy finish. It tasted of allspice and nutmeg. The wine was also a little on the peppery side but definitely not overwhelming. The tannins were medium but not intimidating. It was so good with the steak. Mr Mary Cooks thinks it'd be good with duck or lamb. He said he'd prefer it to go with fatty food and definitely not with a lean meat. I think it'd be excellent with a creamy brie or some other soft, mild cheese. We would definitely feel confident serving this to guests or bringing it to a party.

We drank the whole bottle which, I have to tell you, seems to be the true test with our week of wine tasting!

I liked this wine. I am going to be keeping an eye out for other Xanadu wines from Down Under.

Two Wine Reviews and a Salmon Recipe

Grocery Outlet wines again tonight. In case you're wondering why I was given this opportunity and why GO is ramping up their wine presence online, it's because they're going to be having a fantastic sale March 30-April 3. 20% off all wines! This is a great event and there will be some terrific bargains to be had so do not miss it!

Tonight's first wine was a 2007 Sylvester Vineyards & Winery Rosé.

Front of the bottle:


Back of the bottle:


I bought this with the gift card given to me by GO for $3.99. Their sign said elsewhere it was $8.99.

When I opened this and poured it in my glass the first thing I smelled was vinegar. This did not bode well. It's dry and Mr Mary Cooks claimed it tasted like "Kool-Aid rainwater." (Hey, I couldn't make that up by myself!) There's an unpleasant aftertaste with a sourness that's almost lemony. The text on the back label matches the flavor and character of the wine: vague and nondescript. I would have felt obligated to finish the bottle but since I didn't pay for it, I didn't.

However, we did figure out a good use for it: it'd be a decent sangria wine. It also makes a good wine spritzer if you add lemon-lime soda. Just sayin'...

We drank it with salmon that was still great after being in the freezer for a year and a half. This is salmon that we caught ourselves in Ketchikan, Alaska. I was overjoyed that not only was it still good but it was delicious! Are you ready for the food interlude?



Ingredients:
4 4 oz. salmon fillets
2 Tbsp. canola oil
4 Tbsp. rice vinegar
4 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 c. finely minced onion
2 Tbsp. sesame oil



Mix all of the ingredients together in a small bowl.



Pour over the salmon fillets.



Let them marinade for 30 minutes.



Flip 'em over and let them go for another 30 minutes.



Put them in a pan and cook them in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Then, broil them for about 5 minutes or so.



Ahhhh... I live a tough life, don't I?!


Okay, back to the wine. After the dismal performance of the rosé (and I truly was disappointed because I love a good rosé!) I decided to open a 2008 Le Baron Ranch Late Harvest Riesling.

Front of the bottle:


Back of the bottle:


What
A
Godsend!

Apple and apricot on the nose. It was only lightly syrupy but very, very sweet. It would make an excellent dessert wine. It was such a treat, literally candy for adults! There were pear and apricot notes with a peach aftertaste. It was almost effervescent on the tongue when it touched. It finished clean on the palate. I knew it might yield a nasty hangover in the morning (due to the sugar content) but I didn't care! The bottle was completely consumed, mostly by me. There was a bit of a starfruit note as it warmed. I loved, loved, loved this wine. If I could drink it every day I would do it.

It was $10.99 at Grocery Outlet, elsewhere $44.99. Honestly, for a Late Harvest that might be a wee bit inflated (I'd believe it more for an ice wine) but no matter. It was definitely worth the eleven bucks. I am going to head back to GO for more! You should, too, if you know what's good for you.

Grocery Outlet Wine!

Can you believe I bought all 9 of these bottles from Grocery Outlet for $50? Okay...I fib just a little...I went over by $1. ;-)

Grocery Outlet gave me a $50 gift card with which to buy wine and review it here on my blog. Sweet! The first wine I am reviewing is a 2007 Renovales Malbec. I have been trying to research this on the internet but have come up with nothing. My Google-Fu is failing me! I bought this at Grocery Outlet for $4.99 and their price tag said to compare it to $9.99 in other stores.

Front of the bottle:


Back of the bottle:


I do know that Mendoza is a good place for Malbecs. I have a soft spot in my heart for Malbecs so that's why I decided to start with this one.

I poured it in my glass and let it breathe for a little bit. It looked beautiful and dark.



At first there was an oaky taste to it but that dissipated the more it breathed. Also at first there was a bit of a dull pomegranate taste to it and Mr Mary Cooks swears there was a ruby red grapefruit taste to it (I didn't get that at all). The tannins are very tame which makes this wine very approachable for someone who maybe has not had a lot of experience with red wines. This wine would be awesome with a creamy cheese like perhaps a chevre or even a stilton. I can imagine eating a salad comprised of arugula, rocket, pear, walnuts, and chevre while sipping on this wine.

Instead, we had bacon-wrapped filet mignon (which will make another appearance later this week) and twice-baked potatoes.



This was a Christmas present from family of Mr Mary Cooks so it made this meal very economical!

Anyway, back to the wine. It's much better when consumed with food. We drank the whole bottle so it definitely passed the test as it took very little effort to drink it all. It was mildly fruity and I bet it would age pretty well for another year.

The only negative thing I can say about this wine is that there was an odd sedimentation in the first pour which was strange because it had been sitting upright for two days prior to opening it.

I would definitely buy this wine again. It was delicious and for 5 bucks, an incredible deal!

-----------

Stay tuned later this week for an announcement! Grocery Outlet has given me a $50 gift card to give away here on the blog! There are some stipulations (you have to have a blog and post what you bought with it) which I will list tomorrow. I'll start accepting entries to the giveaway on Wednesday and announce the winner on Friday evening. Hooray!!!

Wine of the Week: Rowland Cellars 1999 Syrah

I have three places where I store wine. The first is a wine cooler (refrigerator) in the kitchen. In it is where I store the wines that I most care about. The second place is in a real refrigerator in our shop. This is where I store the white wines that need to be refrigerated prior to drinking. Finally, I also store wines in our walk-in closet. It is very cool in this closet and although its temperature does vary it is probably the most consistent place temperature-wise in the whole house. I have stored some wines in our walk-in closet for a couple of years. Sometimes it is with trepidation that I open a bottle that has been stored in the closet for some time. I just never know if I am going to get a quality wine from there.

Tonight we decided that opening (at least) a bottle per week would be a prudent idea. I already had a lot of wine to begin with so my adventure with the girls last week only added to the predicament of too much wine, if there is such a thing! It is going to be a fun endeavor, to be sure. In that spirit we opened a Rowland Cellars 1999 Red Triangle Syrah.



1999 was a pretty good year for Syrahs so I was a bit excited for this bottle. We opened it, poured it in the glasses, and opted to let it breathe for a bit. At first on the nose Mr. Mary Cooks got blueberry while I got cherry. Mr. Mary Cooks doesn't think that it comes out of the bottle very well but once it has breathed for some time (about an hour) it is very nice. When I had my first glass it seemed really smooth and mellow. After it breathed for an hour it was more of a characteristic Syrah with a good amount of tannins and flavor. This one definitely has the taste of oak but it is not obnoxious (not that I think oak is obnoxious).



The price point on this bottle seems to be about $26. I am positive that I did not pay that much for this bottle but I may have paid $14-20 for it. I am fairly sure I got it in a close-out cart from the awesome store, Central Market. I wish I had bought two bottles instead of one but it's always a crap shoot, it seems, in these situations.

Anyway, this is delightful and I adore it.

I know I should be more technical with my tasting notes and I will learn, in time, the right "buzzwords" to say but for now I will stick to "yes, I liked it" or "no, this is crap". Ha!

Mother's Cookies Circus Animals Review

One of the benefits of being a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher is that you occasionally get to try new foods.

A few months ago, Mother's Cookies folded and their beloved cookies gradually started disappearing from store shelves. One of these casualties happened to be the Circus Animal cookies. I have loved these cookies since I was a child so I was a bit disheartened to hear this news. Soon, however, we heard that Kellogg's had purchased the recipes and rights to these Circus Animal cookies (I am unclear about other types of Mother's Cookies recipes). Foodbuzz sent an email out to their Featured Publishers to see who would want to sample the cookies. I, of course, jumped at the chance!

On Friday, I received a package:



There was a note of explanation and promotion from Foodbuzz:



The first thing I noticed was the packaging. It was more foil-based than plastic-based. It was flimsier than Mother's Cookies packaging. This is not necessarily a bad thing; it's just an observation.



At first glance, the cookies did look similar to how they have always looked.



Ah ha! But I had an ace up my sleeve... I had a package of the Halloween Mother's Cookies Circus Animal cookies in my pantry! True, the "best by" date was sometime in March but, hey, they were unopened so I figured they'd be a good comparison. I wasn't saving them specifically for this moment; they just happened to not get consumed yet.



Let's compare ingredients and nutrition information, shall we?

First, the original ingredients:



Now, for the new ingredients (Kellogg's forgot the eggs!):



Minor differences, to be sure. The same goes for nutrition information. First, the original:



Now, the new nutrition information:



I believe this next photo sums it up. The new cookie is on the left and the original is on the right.



Reactions from the family.

First, Mr. Mary Cooks:
The frosting seemed thicker on the new cookies but the cookie seemed thinner and harder/crunchier. Not good. The frosting on the new cookie seemed more artificial, if that's possible. I've never been a really big fan of Circus Animals but it took the new cookies to make me realize the old ones were animal crackers with frosting. The new ones are like the plastic sushi you see on display; it looks delicious but you really wouldn't want to eat it.

Now, the middle child (boy, age 9):
The new are worse. The old are better. The old are the best ones because they have just the right amount of sprinkles and cracker and frosting on them.

The teenager (boy, age 18):
I like the old ones. I like how they're thicker, they're not as crumbly. The new ones seem kind of crumbly. I like the flavor of the old ones. It tastes like they changed something.

The preschooler (girl, age 3):
Mary Cooks: Did you like the old cookies or the new cookies?
Girl: Blank stare.
Mary Cooks: Did you like the orange cookies or the pink cookies?
Girl: The pink ones?
Mary Cooks: Why?
Girl: Because they're pink. I love pink!

Mary Cooks:
The new version does indeed seem more artificially flavored. There's a weird aftertaste and coating that happened to the roof of my mouth after eating the new version. They also seem to taste sweeter than the old version. Definitely overly sweet. Ugh.

Verdict? I think I'll pretend they are no longer, sadly. Sorry, Kellogg's. I'll still buy your products but I won't be buying Circus Animals any longer.

Buitoni Pasta - Wild Mushroom Agnolotti

Being a Foodbuzz featured publisher has its perks. One of those perks is occasionally they send out a product to try and review. This past Friday I came home to a huge box. I opened it and was so pleased to find a lovely note from Foodbuzz along with a package of pasta!



Not just any pasta, but Wild Mushroom Agnolotti by Buitoni.



For the next 36 hours I thought and thought about what kinds of sauces would go well with this agnolotti. I contemplated alfredo sauce and while that would be good, it would overpower the mushroom. I felt the same way about a marinara sauce. In the end, I developed a flavorful sauce with chicken broth as its base. (Vegetarians: you could easily substitute vegetable broth and make this a vegetarian meal.)

Here is my recipe:

Buitoni Wild Mushroom Agnolotti with Asparagus, Spinach, and Sun-dried Tomatoes

Ingredients:
1 9 oz. package Buitoni Wild Mushroom Agnolotti
1 bunch of asparagus, tough ends trimmed and cut into 1" pieces
4 oz. spinach leaves, washed
7 to 8 sun-dried tomatoes (dried, not packed in oil*), sliced
1 Tbsp. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine
2 Tbsp. butter
4 Tbsp. grated Romano cheese
3 Tbsp. pine nuts, toasted

*I found sun-dried tomatoes at Trader Joe's that were not packed in oil. They were just dry, in a bag. There are some similar tomatoes here but I've never purchased from this vendor and can therefore not verify how good they are.

Instructions:
1. Prepare the pasta per the package instructions.
2. Heat olive oil in a wide, deep pan over medium-high heat.
3. Add garlic, thyme, oregano, and crushed red pepper flakes. Stir for about 30 seconds.
4. Add spinach and stir until the leaves have completely wilted.
5. Add the chicken broth and white wine. Bring to a simmer.
6. Add the sun-dried tomatoes. Let simmer for 5 minutes.
7. Add the asparagus and cook for another 4-5 minutes, or until asparagus is mostly tender and bright green.
8. Gently add the agnolotti and stir - gently - to coat with sauce.
9. Put the butter in the pan and stir gently until it is melted.
10. Remove pan from heat, stir in the grated Romano and pine nuts gently.
11. Serve and enjoy!



First, the pine nuts were toasted.





The garlic was first up in the pan. This starts the magic.



Next, the herbs were added.



After about 30 seconds, the spinach went into the pan.



It wilted so nicely, don't you agree?



Next up is the chicken broth and white wine. I just used a white wine blend from Metropolitan Market.



After the liquid came to a simmer I added the sundried tomatoes. I wanted to add them now as opposed to reconstituting them in separate boiling water because I wanted to retain all that lovely tomato flavor and color. These look a little dark because they are sulphur-free. I got them from Trader Joe's.



After about 5 minutes I added the cut up asparagus.



4-5 minutes later I added the agnolotti into the sauce mixture.



Butter, of course, is a wonderful finish to any sauce!



Stir gently... Do not break up those beautiful agnolotti!



Remove the pan from heat and add the grated Romano.



Finally, add the toasted pine nuts. Remember to stir gently!



The finished dish is a sight to behold.



This was delicious!

I have, in the past, picked up some refrigerated ravioli and sauce as a quick meal for the family. Honestly, it is a decent meal but not exactly awe-inspiring, know what I mean? This agnolotti, though, was different. This was special. Gourmet! The flavor was out of this world amazing. It tasted like we had made them at home. The sauce balanced the agnolotti perfectly. This is exactly what they were asking for.

Do you want to know the best thing about this Buitoni pasta? It inspired me to think of other ways to cook it. I wonder how this would taste with beef broth and red wine instead of chicken broth and white wine. Ooooh! And I'd bet it would be lovely with duck broth and fennel!

We will definitely be purchasing this agnolotti as it has totally won us over. And special thanks to Foodbuzz for introducing this wonderful pasta to our kitchen!